Wu Zetian died within a year. World History Encyclopedia, 22 Feb 2016. In 674 CE, Gaozong took the title Tian Huang (Emperor of Heaven) and Wu changed her own to Tian Hou (Empress of Heaven). The answer was to proclaim another dynasty, not by military conquest, but by interpreting omens that favored her to carry out a change of dynasties and become enthroned as a woman emperor. By transferring the normal seat of the court from Changan to Luoyang, she was able to escape the control of the great families of the northwestern aristocracy, which played an important role in the rise of the Tang dynasty. 22 Feb. 2023 . In her seventies, Wu showered special favor on two smooth-cheeked brothers, the Zhang brothers, former boy singers, the nature of whose private relationship with their imperial mistress has never been precisely determined. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/4558/empress-wu-zetian/. The military exams were intended to measure intelligence and decision making and candidates were personally interviewed instead of just being appointed because of family connections or their family's name. "Wu Zetian (624705) Most historians believe Wu became intimate with the future Gaozong emperor before his fathers deatha scandalous breach of etiquette that could have cost her her head, but which in fact saved her from life in a Buddhist nunnery. World History Publishing is a non-profit company registered in the United Kingdom. Controversial ruler of Tang China who dominated Chinese politics for half a century, first as empress, then as empress-dowager, and finally as emperor of the Zhou Dynasty (690705) that she founded . Although this system opened government positions to a wider group than ever before, in the final stages of the process candidates continued to be judged on their appearance and speech. is held up in Chinese histories as the prototype of all that is wicked in a female ruler. They ruled as divine monarchs until Gaozong's death in 683 CE. Wu was forced to abdicate in favor of her exiled son Zhongzong and his wife Wei. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Public Domain. Original image by Unknown. An active imagination produced pornographic novels in the 16th century focusing on her alleged sexual practices. Favoring the power base in the Northeast, the royal family finally moved to Luoyang in 683. It could also be, like it was in Egypt after Queen Hatshepsut's reign, that no one in power wanted to record the reign of a woman and hoped that Empress Wu would be forgotten. Barrett. Vol. 4.16: Links to Primary Sources - Humanities LibreTexts Before coming to power, she was presented with three petitions containing sixty thousand names and urging her to ascend to the throne, which suggested that she had some popular support. . World Eras. Her last name, "Wu" is associated with the words for 'weapon' and 'military force' and she chose the name 'Zeitan' which means 'Ruler of the Heavens'. Liu, Xu. New Haven: YUP, 2008; Jonathan Clements. The cambridge history has a fascinating take on this period - the author of the chapter on Wu's reign keeps reminding the reader that the imperium was peaceful; the economy was booming; government was rational, efficient and effective; and a parade of highly qualified top officials presided. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. Whether true or not, it is what people believed. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975. The political success of Wu Zetian indicates that the attributes needed in diplomacy and rulership were not restricted to men. Five Historical Plays. At the age of fourteen, she was selected as a palace maid to Gaozong, then a Prince, and his first spouse and primary consort Xing, who had recently married. 23 Feb. 2023 . World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. (Issued by the Empress Dowager Cixi, 1835-1908) To respond properly to Heaven's censure, it is suitable that you lead the quiet life of a widow and cultivate virtue, otherwise I fear further disasters will befall us. Thank you for your help! Wu Zetian is believed to have been born in Wenshi County, Shanxi Province around 624 CE. Beginning in 660 CE, Wu was effectively the emperor of China. Meanwhile, the Turks invaded Gansu, and the Tibetans posed a threat to Chinese possessions in Central Asia. Unlike most young girls in China at this time, Wu was encouraged by her father to read and write and develop the intellectual skills which were traditionally reserved for males. Born ne Wu (first name at birth not known) in 624 in Taiyuan, Shanxi province; died in 705 in Luoyang, Henan province; daughter of a high-ranking official, Wu Shihuo, and his aristocratic wife; married Emperor Taizong (r. 626649), in 640 (died 649); married Emperor Gaozong (r. 650683), in 654; children: (second marriage) Crown Prince Li Hong; Crown Prince Li Xian; Emperor Zhongzong; Emperor Ruizong; Princess Taiping ; another daughter (died in infancy). Overall Wu Zetian was a decisive, capable ruler in the roles of empress, empress dowager, and emperor. Hailing from the Tang dynasty, Empress Wu made some great positive strives for the Tang dynasty, but also got caught up in scandals - a couple even involving murder! Agricultural production under Wu's reign increased to an all-time high. When Taizong died, Gaozong became emperor, and Wu Zetian joined a Buddhist nunnery, as required of concubines of deceased emperors. Thereafter the empress favored Confucianism. https://www.worldhistory.org/Wu_Zetian/. Her significance as an emperor and founder of a new dynasty lies in her redefining of the gender-specific concepts of the emperorship and the Confucian state. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Under the administration of Empress Wu, Tang territory expanded through constant fighting with other peoples, particularly the Tibetans. Vol. She did not ask any man's permission to lead these women to Mount Tai; she felt she knew what was best and did it. 1 minutes de lecture . Historians have documented Wu Zetian's resort to slander, torture, and murders to reinforce the propaganda of omens. Empress Wu Zetian and the Spread of Buddhism Again, it is hard to tell what is true and what is slander being that Wu Zeitan's story is so long ago and the sources are sketchy. Empress Wu (died September or October 245), [a] personal name Wu Xian ( Chinese: ), formally known as Empress Mu (literally "the Just Empress"), was an empress of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. This was a common practice after the death of the emperor. Wu disposed of her enemies, first the former empress and then the high-ranking officials, who had strongly opposed her rise. To justify her rule, Wu used selected Buddhist scriptures and led the way in the creation of numerous visual representations of the Buddha. Lu Zhi was an instantly recognizable villain to the people of China, and linking Wu with her through the murders worked to destroy Wu's reputation. The primary and secondary sources on Wu Zetian are abundant and problematic, reflecting an almost exclusively male authorship that has portrayed her as a beautiful, calculating, brutal woman who ruled China as the only woman emperor in name and in fact. Buddhism was carried into East Asia by merchants and Buddhist monks traveling the Silk Road from Northern India, Persia, Kashmir and Inner Asia. Jay, Jennifer W. "Vignettes of Chinese Women in Tang Xi'an (618906): Individualism in Wu Zetian, Yang Guifei, Yu Xuanji and Li Wa," in Chinese Culture. The Tang empire in 700, at the end of Wus reign. She founded a secret police and conducted a reign of terror, justifying the mass executions on the grounds that discrimination against a womans open exercise of power forced her to use terror to defend her authority. When she saw she would not be able to control the court as her mother did, she killed herself and Xuanzong decreed that no member of Wu's family would be allowed to hold public office because of their ruthless scheming and underhanded politics. "Empress Wu and the Historians: A Tyrant and Saint of Classical China," in Nancy Auer Falk and Rita M. Gross, eds., Unspoken Worlds: Religious Lives of Women. On the question of succession after her death, Wu Zetian entertained notions of an heir from a Wu and Li marriage. Traditionally, only the emperor, as the son-of-heaven, could communicate with heaven and carry out sacrifices to heaven and earth. empress wu primary sources - tiba-constructions.com These criteria no doubt favored the aristocratic families. When Taizong died, Wu and his other concubines had their heads shaved and were sent to Ganye Temple to begin their lives as nuns. To further separate her Zhou Dynasty from the Tang, she created new characters for the Chinese writing system which are known today as Chinese Characters of Empress Wu or Zetian Characters. The critical Anderson concedes that, under Wu, military expenses were reduced, taxes cut, salaries of deserving officials raised, retirees given a viable pension, and vast royal lands near the capital turned over to husbandry.. Picking through the bias to try to get to the real story is always fascinating and - in my mind - fun. Her last two lovers were the young and handsome Zhang brothers who put on makeup and exploited the relationship by obtaining offices, honors, and gifts for themselves and their family. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2007; Dora Shu-Fang Dien, Empress Wu Zetian in Fiction and in History: Female Defiance in Confucian China. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Character Overview Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. She also dealt ruthlessly with a succession of rivals, promoted members of her own family to high office, succumbed repeatedly to favoritism, and, in her old age, maintained what amounted to a harem of virile young men. In 652 CE, Wu gave birth to a son, Li Hong, and in 653 CE had another son, Li Xian. Wu began an affair with Li Zhi, who was married at the time, while still attached to Taizong as concubine. Instead, it was left without any inscriptionthe only such example in more than 2,000 years of Chinese history. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. 127148. Wu's rise to power was ruthless and her reign no less so, as she continued to eliminate rivals and opponents using tactics that were sometimes brutal. The spirit road causeway to Wus still-unopened tomb lies between two low rises, tipped by watchtowers, known as the nipple hills.. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. It was customary, when a dynasty changed, to re-set history. Thank you for your help! Reign of Terror. A brother or a clan grandson at times ascended the throne during usurpation or when the emperor died without issue, but female succession through descent from a daughter was never permitted. By 655 she had consolidated her position after her son inherited the throne. According to almost all her biographers, she was extremely cruel in her personal life, murdering two sons, a daughter, sister, niece, grandchildren, and many Li and Wu princes and princesses who opposed her. Wu Zetian was born in Wenshi County, Shanxi Province, in 624 CE to a wealthy family. The only woman ever to rule as emperor of China, Wu Zhao (Wu ZeTian) was born in 624 C.E. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. unified China in 221 B.C. If Wu Zetian is judged by the traditional female virtues of chastity and modesty, then she falls short of expectations. Explaining why the empress was so reviled, then, means acknowledging the double standard that existedand still existswhen it comes to assessing male and female rulers. Even if she took full advantage, however, she must have possessed not only looks but remarkable intelligence and determination to emerge, as she did two decades later, as empress. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Some historians have viewed her as blazing the trail for the women who came after her, and indeed her daughter, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter aspired to emulate her success, but they failed and even died violently in the process. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Empress Wu, or Wu Zhao, challenged the patriarchal system by advocating women's intellectual development and sexual freedom. Even though there were many important and influential women throughout China's history, only one ever became the most powerful political figure in the country. These historians claim that Wu ordered Lady Wang and Lady Xiao murdered in a terrible way: she had their hands and feet cut off and they were then thrown into a vat of wine to drown. In the largest cave there is a statue called the Grand Vairocana Buddha. China during Wu Zetian's ReignIan Kiu (CC BY-SA). $1.99. Wu was now raised to the position of first wife of Gaozong and empress of China. However, when Li Zhi became emperor and took the name Gaozong, one of the first things he did was send for Wu and have her brought back to court as the first of his concubines, even though he had others and also a wife. Zhou Dynasty. To legitimize her position, Empress Wu turned mainly to Buddhism, proclaiming herself an incarnation of Maitreya (Mi-le), the Buddhist savior. But 28 other consorts still stood between her and the throne. Please support World History Encyclopedia. ." But if she is observed in the context of the sexuality of male rulers, then the number of her favorites is insignificant. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. World History Encyclopedia. Empress Wu Worksheets & Facts | History, Reign, Legacy The three phases of the universe; These three phases were birth, existence, and destruction. How did she hold on to power? She contended with petitions against female dominance which argued that her unnatural position as emperor had caused several earthquakes to occur and reports being filed of hens turning into roosters. She carefully eliminated any potential enemies from the court and had Lady Wang and Lady Xiao killed after they had gone into exile. If it still won't be tamed, I'll cut its throat with the knife. To consolidate her power, in 657 Wu designated Luoyang as a second capital. ." Although she was not able to control the newly unified state, relations continued to be friendly during her reign. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1984. Historians remain divided as to how far Wu benefited from the removal of these potential obstacles; what can be said is that her third son, who succeeded his father as Emperor Zhongzong in 684, lasted less than two months before being banished, at his mothers instigation, in favor of the more tractable fourth, Ruizong. Click for Author Information. Wu Zetian came to the throne when she was 67, making her the oldest person ever be crowned. Encyclopedia.com. Moreover, Wu exhibited one important characteristic that suggests that, whatever her faults, she was no despot: She acknowledged and often acted on the criticisms of loyal ministers, one of whom dared to suggest, in 701, that it was time for her to abdicate. In 705, Wu Zetian's grandson, the later Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712756), slaughtered the Zhang brothers in spite of Wu Zetian's protest and forced her to return the Li-Tang imperial family to power. Leiden: EJ Brill, 1974. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. She installed a series of copper boxes in the capital in which citizens could post anonymous denunciations of one another, and passed legislation, R.W.L. Her mother ne Yang was of aristocratic birth with mixed Chinese and Turkic blood, the result of generations of intermarriage when five nomadic tribes overran north China and founded dynasties in the 4th to 6th centuries. Wu Zetian. Woodbridge Bingham, The Founding of the Tang Dynasty: The Fall of Sui and Rise ofTang, a Preliminary Survey (New York: Octagon, 1975). Thank you! She graduated from SUNY Delhi in 2018. We would much rather spend this money on producing more free history content for the world. Empress Dowager. "Kao-tsung and the Empress Wu," in Denis Twitchett, ed. She was the last wife and the only empress of Liu Bei, the founding emperor of Shu Han, and a younger sister of Wu Yi . Charlemagne (or Charles the Great) was king of the franks from 768 to 814, king of the lombards from 774 to 814, and emperor from 800 to, FOUNDED: c. 1050256 b.c.e. She shocked the Chinese officialdom by arranging to send male grooms to the daughters and aunts of the tribal chieftains at the empire's borders, although it was customary to send female brides. Privacy Statement Why should you weep for me?" She later volunteered to tame Taizong's wild horse with an iron whip, hammer, and knife. Empress Wu Zetian (Illustration) - World History Encyclopedia Submitted by Emily Mark, published on 17 March 2016. After the latter died in 684, she took on four or five lovers, including a monk whom she ordered executed when weary of his greed and abuse of power. She was also assured that her sons would rule the country after the death of her husband. This page titled 4.16: Links to Primary Sources is shared under a CC BY-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by George Israel (University System of Georgia via GALILEO Open Learning Materials) . Traders from the Mediterranean and Persia also came from both the overland and maritime trade routes, where Buddhism and Central Asian culture, dress, and music reached China. Lady Wu played the role of the shy, respectable emperor's wife well in public but, behind the scenes, she was the actual power. As early as 660 CE, Wu had organized a secret police force and spies in the court and throughout the country. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/Wu_Zetian/. When Wu could no longer tolerate her daughter-in-law's antics and disrespect, and her son's refusal to discipline her and obey Wu's dictates, she had him charged with treason and banished along with his wife. World History Encyclopedia. By the fourth century CE, the Roman Empire was at the apex of its power and strength. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Cookie Policy Although the function of the concubine in China is almost always associated with sex, a woman in this position could have a number of non-sexual responsibilities, from daily tasks like taking care of the laundry to more specialized skills like conversation, poetry reading, and playing music. Her spy network and secret police stopped rebellions before they had a chance to start and the military campaigns she sent out enlarged and secured the borders of the country. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. Ch'ien-lung (1711-1799) was the fourth emperor of the Ch'ing, or Manchu, dynasty in China. The woman who believed she was as capable as any man to lead the country continues to be vilified, even if writers now qualify their criticisms, but there is no arguing with the fact that, under Wu Zetian, China experienced an affluence and stability it had never known before. This particular minister was silenced but that did not silence the rest; they just were more careful not to speak their mind in front of her.
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